The Naruto World
by ColoredAsphalt
Summary: Cora's life gets turned around when she goes to bed one night and wakes up in a strange, old, abandoned house. She assumes she was moved there by her mother, but soon she'll find that it's nothing like that... It's nothing like she had ever imagined.
1. Chapter 1

~Cora's P.O.V.~

I fidgeted in my chair while staring at the TV. I was waiting for my mom to get home from going out with my aunts and drinking...

_Tick. Tick. Tick._

_Tick. Tick. Tick._

Six minutes later.

I sighed silently as I glanced up at the clock above the TV, frowning at the time.

_**3:45 A.M.**_

I figured I might as well try out the Pilot of Vampire Diaries like my friend, Jenny, wanted me to.

_Tick-_

_**4:28 A.M.**_

An okay show. She's still not back, though. I trudged up to my bedroom, changing into my night clothes. A simple white t-shirt and black shorts. I decided to add a dark blue hoodie to the mix since it was a little cold tonight.

I pulled my covers back and slipped into bed, relaxing once the covers were back in their right place. I waited a moment before turning to my lamp and switching it off, leaving me in my pitch black room. It took awhile, about an hour or so, before I finally felt my eyelids grow heavy. I welcomed sleep.

_**[Dream Scene. Self-harm involved, may trigger. Feel free to skip this.]**_

Blood was flowing from my forearms, creating two small puddles of blood below me. I was bleeding enough that the two puddles formed into one big puddle. It stung a bit, but it was slowly fading to a dull throb. The blood stained my knees, which made me realize I was kneeling on the ground, making me feel sticky and unclean. I felt my lungs burning. I couldn't breathe.

No... I could breathe. I was just breathing too fast for oxygen to get to my brain. My eyes stung, blurring drastically. They felt a bit hot. What kind of dream is this?

I blinked without wanting to, causing tears to roll down my cheeks. I felt myself glance down at my hands. They were covered in blood, too. I focused on something that was grasped in my right hand. My grip strengthened around it before my hand began to sting, too. Beads of blood raised from the cut before they overflowed. A razor blade.

Why was I cutting myself?

I felt dizzy. I was losing too much blood. But I couldn't move. I couldn't control my body as my hand raised and sliced a long and deep cut down my left wrist. I started to panic. Why wont I stop? I don't want to bleed.

"Cora."

I felt myself turn to look into onyx eyes-

_**[Dream End]**_

I opened my eyes to see a dark figure towering over me and shaking my shoulder to wake me. Slowly, I sat up and rubbed my eyes to try and rid the sleep from them before looking to see what stranger my mom brought home. I blinked when nobody was there.

...

It was really hot. Why was it hot? I looked around at my surrounding and let out a small yelp when I found myself in what looked like a bedroom from an old and abandoned house. That or nobody bothered to take care of their house. Why would my mom let some guy she brought home move me here?! She-!

I groaned in frustration before slipping out of the bed and going to the door. When I turned the knob and pushed, it wouldn't open. So I tried pulling it, but still, it did not open. More frustration bubbled inside me as I tried kicking at the door.

After a few minutes I sighed in defeat and looked around the room. _I might as well save as much energy as I can._ There were two more doors and a boarded up window, but the wood looked rotted... I could easily tear it off. I went over to the window and firmly grasped one of the boards before yanking as hard as I could. I smiled when I stumbled back as it came off before throwing the board aside.

I repeated this process three more times, then looked out the window- I mumbled a profanity when I saw I was on the second floor of the house. There was an even part of the roof right in front of me though, so I cautiously walked towards the edge of the roof. Looking down, I saw that it was a good 14 ft. drop. I would come out scathed if I tried to jump.

I went back into the bedroom and opened one of the doors. It was a bathroom. Pausing to look through cabinets and such, I found: one medium sized, full box of 500 matches; bandages; some medical tape; and a black switchblade. Handy. I stuck the items into my pockets.

I exited the bathroom and headed to the other door. It was a closet, and bonus: there was a _lot_ of old blankets and clothes.

I carried as much as I could and slowly climbed out the window before heading to the edge of the roof again. Looking to the best spot, I dropped the heap of blankets and clothes and they fell to the ground in a pile. Grinning, I repeated this process a few more times until the closet was empty.

I hesitated for a few seconds before jumping off the roof. The wind yelled in my ear until I hit the center of the pile of clothes. It hurt a little, but not as much as it would have if I tried jumping without a soft landing below.

I completely ignored going inside to discuss the sudden moving with my mom, and headed along a path into the forest. Once I know where I am, I can go home...

"Where the hell are the roads!" I growled out, not worried about anyone hearing. I kicked at the dirt on the path a bit before continuing to trudge along. I'd been walking for over an hour.

"You mean, where is the village?" I heard a female voice say. I froze before slowly looking into the direction of the voice, which happened to be behind me.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Like I did on Quizilla, I would like to point out that no, Cora's name is not based off Korra's name in The Legend of Korra. Cora has been my favorite female name for 4-5 years now. xD Hope you enjoy!

Cora turned to look at the female who had just spoken and came face to face with a teen around her age with honey brown eyes and auburn hair that went 4-5 inches past her shoulders. Medium length hair, most would call it. Scanning her from head to toe, she noticed that the teen had... a dark blue kimono on? It had butterflies stitched onto it. She also had rope sandals on.

_I guess she's an anime fan..._ Cora thought to herself, shrugging slightly. She was an anime fan herself, but she really hadn't watched many of them. She had her share of simple Pokemon, Digimon, some Naruto and Inuyasha from when it played on Cartoon Network, and very little .hack Sign years ago. She stuck to reading random books she chose in the Young Adult's section at her local library most of the time.

"Are you ever gonna answer, or are you simply deaf?" The teen girl across from her giggled, bringing a hand up to hide her smile. There was no doubt she thought Cora was a spacehead.

Cora blinked before grumbling quietly to herself, she shouldn't have zoned out like that. After her grumbling, Cora looked up at the girl suspiciously. Slowly, she shook her head.

"No. I'm not deaf. And, could you please locate me to the nearest... Village?" Cora asked, twitching slightly at the word 'village'. She thought the girl in the kimono was a bit too much of a fan, to go around calling city 'villages'. Though... In their own way, she supposed they could be called that.

The brown eyed girl paused for a long moment before hesitantly nodding her head. She had a sudden look of... uncertainty. Like she wasn't comfortable. Cora brushed it off, believing it to be some sort of simple shyness in the girl. Or maybe she was also suspicious.

"I can lead you to about a two hours walk outside the outskirts of Amegakure. I cannot take you any further than that."

...

_Amegakure?_

_**~Cora's P.O.V.~**_

_**An hour and a half later.**_

The girl in the blue butterfly kimono parted ways with me. She told me to keep walking East until I was outside Amegakure. I had thanked her for going out of her way just to lead me on the right path. But...  
What the heck is an Amegakure? Some sort of fish? Probably.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, stepping over large sticks and pushing the limbs of a brush away from me. This was impossible. The girl said not to travel on the road, that it would be too dangerous. Sure, the United States isn't exactly the safest place to walk around without a few more people with you, but still! It's not that I didn't enjoy nature, it's just very suspicious if you think about it. Maybe she'd come back with a group of people and- I stopped myself there. That's just me getting all paranoid again.

For the next hour, I jumped over small streams, hopped my way over rivers using rocks that broke the surface of the water, stepped over holes, sticks, a lot of brush, and also got scratched up and dirty during the process. It reminded me of the days I would go outside as a child and play with others. I felt a little nostalgic. I stopped to take a breather and let my sore muscles relax beside a small stream, as I wasn't used to walking such a distance for so long. Plus, you know, people get thirsty.

I cupped a few handfuls of water from the stream, drinking each handful gratefully. After I felt I had drunk the proper amount of water to keep me from being dehydrated, I splashed some water on my face and on my neck. My shirt getting a bit wet. I then stretched and rested a few more minutes before continuing my journey towards this Amegakure.

After I'd walked for probably about 20 minutes, it started sprinkling. A really light sprinkle, but it's getting faster with each second. I really wished I hadn't listened to that girl. I wish I had just stayed in that house and waited for my mom. I felt like I was about to fall over if I didn't rest my legs. I was very hungry, too. It was starting to get really cold.

And then it started pouring rain. I kept walking though, it wouldn't be good if I got caught in a flood or something. It really wouldn't be good if that happened. A sneeze interrupted my train of thought, which caused a groan to emit from my throat. Me getting sick with everything else on top? Could I even survive in this forest if I got a bad cold? I don't even know how to make a fire without a lighter... or... some...

I have matches. I forgot about that. Hopefully they aren't wet. Now that I was thinking about the stuff I got from that house, I should have grabbed different clothes... My legs are doing some massive bleeding just from a bunch of thorns on the shrub in this forest.

I shivered violently, hugging my hoodie closer to myself. The rain was pouring so hard that I could hardly see in front of myself, so I was reduced to a slow walk. More so a limp, as my legs started cramping. I could feel that I would soon have a cramp in my left side as well.

Another 15 minutes of walking, and I was barely trudging along. I felt about ready to pass out. The corners of my eyes saw bright specks of light fading in and out every once in awhile. I heard a snap of a twig and froze up. Who could be out there? Or is it an animal? I'm freaking out...

I laughed at myself, but then grimaced when the laugh caused the cramp mentioned earlier in my left side to hurt. Yes, the cramp eventually came to me...

Something hit me. It felt like a fire was spreading throughout my stomach. I whimpered quietly, clutching my stomach tightly, which only doubled the pain I felt. When I looked down, there was blood on my hands. This made me look down at my stomach... Which had something sticking out of it.

My eyes widened, my eyes wandering back to my bloody hands. The rain was slowly washing it off, but the image was still locked inside my brain. My breathing quickened.

I didn't even have time to scream when I felt someone's presence behind me, because they had knocked me out cold.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I tried to make it longer than the other chapters. Hopefully I did! I know most to all just ignore it when people ask readers to review, but it'd be cool if you guys did that. Might give me more motivation to put time into this story knowing that there are people looking forward to new chapters.

I tend to get writers block a lot, or I just type a bit of the story, then forget about it or have a really busy week. Then type some more, and so on and so forth, until I get the inspiration to type a lot up and decide that the end of the chapter. That's why it took so long to post Chapter Three. Sorry guys. Enjoy.

_**~Cora's P.O.V.~**_

When I came to, my head was pounding. A pounding that matched the current speed of my heartbeat, much like the throb slightly straying from that beat in my stomach. My ears were ringing, but it was slowly fading away. Without opening my eyes, I tried to feel if there were any other pains besides the ones in my head and stomach. If anyone was in the room with me they wouldn't be able to tell I had woken, right?

The only other pains were from the sore muscles, scratches, and bruises I got while traveling through the forest. Though, my arms did kind of hurt. Seeing as how they were tied behind my back. It appears my captive thought of me as weak, as they didn't bind my legs. Big mistake on their part.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. Blinking a few times to become accustomed to the suddenly very painfully bright room, I saw that I was in a cell. Strangely, it was a cell inside of a typical bedroom sized room. There was nothing but an older looking version of those toilets you see in jail cells, and a small, cheap, futon, which was currently in 'bed' mode.

The actual barring was a good distance from the door, which was metal and looked... Well. It looked like nothing could take it down. I can see why they didn't care to tie my legs. I inched my way towards the nearest wall until I felt my back press against it. Using the wall as support, I pushed myself up to stand, wincing when my stomach wound screamed at me to stop my moving.

Now that I was standing, I walked over to the futon and sat crossed legged. Sure, I was currently... hostage? But that didn't mean I couldn't make myself comfortable for the time being. How would I know how long it'd be before they came in here to check on me? Or give me food?

...Did they even plan on giving me food? I would be a poor hostage if so. I'd die within the week. Or within days, depending on if they gave me water or not. Plus, I don't know how long I've been unconscious. I'm still very hungry and thirsty...

Yeah. I'll definitely be dead within the week.

And that's when I started panicking. I didn't want to die. I'm only 15, for God's sake! I planned on living a long, uneventful and boring life. Hey, that's how most lives are. Pessimistic view on the world, but whatever.

My inner ramblings soon called me down, and I leaned back against the wall that the futon was placed against. I just need to be patient now...

~Time Skip, 3 hours~

Yeah... The patience thing was hard. I almost nodded off to sleep multiple times, but I can't do that. Not yet, anyways. There had to be a point of time where they would come and check on me. I mean, hell, I need new bandages. I could get an infection if they didn't change them soon, or let me change them. But then it struck me that they might not care, and the reason they had bandaged me in the first place was to keep me from bleeding all over their cell.

Grumbling quietly to myself, I slowly sat back up, trying not to move my stomach area too much. This room was very boring. No windows. It was all colored black. Except the bars, which were maroon, strangely enough. The floor was your typical wooden one. For a moment, I wondered if I could actually slip through the bars. It'd help if my arms weren't tied. Maybe I should try to work on that. I'd already checked to see if they hadn't taken that switchblade off me, and they had.

Just my luck...

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a lock sliding out of place. The door! My eyes focused on said door, waiting to see my attacker. My heart thudded in my chest, and I could feel an amazingly strong adrenaline rush. The metal door began creaking open slowly...

"Tobi's come to check on the pretty lady!" A man with an orange swirly mask with one eye hole, and black robes with red clouds on them, spoke cheerily. I was expecting crazy, but this... Well... This sounds a little too crazy.

I leaned forward, and immediately regretted it. I hadn't moved from my crossed legged position and my arms felt like they were about to fall off. I swallowed my pride and slowly looked up to make eye contact with this Tobi guy.

"Could you please... I can't feel my arms. They're numb, and I'd appreciate it very much if I could stretch them..." I did my best to say that in the softest, most pitiful voice I could muster without gritting my teeth in the process.

This made my captor pause. But then he nodded enthusiastically, and made some weird yet familiar motion with his hand. And surprisingly, my ropes vanished. I blinked a few times. How did he do that? He's not even near me. But once I moved my arms in front of me, I quickly dismissed it, a groan of relief escaping my throat as I stretched my arms.

"Thanks..."

"Anything for pretty lady!"

There was a pause.

"Tobi must ask pretty lady for something in return, however!" My face visibly paled. What did he want with me? There was no way I would let him near me. "Pretty lady must come with me to Leader-Sama!" He wasn't the one who had captured me? This made me think that perhaps he was part of a gang. I might be dying a very slow death now.

I yelped in pain as I was yanked up off the bed by my arm and dragged out of the room containing the cell. I didn't know how Tobi had moved so fast, but my life was currently in danger. I didn't care. All I could worry for was how I would die, or if they would keep me alive as a play toy.

We passed a few people in the long hallway and I made sure to observe each and every one of them, remembering every detail I could. If I escaped, I could go to the police and they could bring their sketch artist in. These people looked very strange...

Soon we came to a door. Tobi knocked on it a few times before we heard a male's voice tell us to come in. I swallowed nervously, looking down at the ground.

"Pretty lady woke up!" Tobi told his leader, pushing me forward into the room. I stumbled, then caught my balance. Slowly, I lifted my gaze to make eye contact with the leader. His glare almost made me break the eye contact, but I had yet another adrenaline rush shoot through me and I held my ground.

"Why have you been found trying to sneak into my village?" I blinked at the question, momentarily startled that he had spoken so soon. He had gotten straight to the point. Didn't most gang leaders relish those moments where they could intimidate people? Especially young women? A little bit of a sexist thought, but everyone knows that it's usually truth. Unless said gang leader was also female.

"I... Wasn't aware that I was sneaking in. I asked someone where the nearest village was and they told me to go in the direction I was through the forest. I was trying to find my way to a grocery store. My mother has sheltered me from going outside our property since I was born, so..."

The truth, but not the entire truth. The leader grunted, he was displeased with my answer. I doubt that he knew I was partially lying. It was an agonizing minute before he made a decision.

"Tobi, take her to Uchiha. Have him watch her, make sure she doesn't escape. Have him re-bandage her wounds as well. A bloodied young girl might not be in the best interest around here."

Wait, what? Uchiha? This place is getting weirder and weirder. I guess maybe this Uchiha guy is of the Asian persuasion? I almost snorted, that rhymed! But I held it back, seeing as how I was currently held hostage...

"Yes Leader, sir! Tobi will escort her there immediately! Come, pretty lady!" Tobi shouted, dragging me painfully behind him as he ran us off down a number of halls. We came to a dark green door, and Tobi knocked twice.

I bit my lip, shifting my weight to one of my legs. I didn't like that there were so many guys here. It suddenly dawned on me that I would likely be sharing a room with Uchiha. I inwardly panicked, my mind going over all the 'what if' scenarios that could happen. I don't-

My thoughts were cut off when the door opened and a young man stared blankly at Tobi and I. His hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail, and he had what seemed to be red eyes? And there were black specks and... odd shapes in the iris'. His eyes narrowed when he saw me looking curiously into his eyes.

"Leader-Sama wants you to watch and take care of pretty lady's wounds! Leader wants her to stay, so you better not let her escape." Tobi shouted cheerily before proceeding to shove me at Itachi and disappearing off into the maze of hallways.

I let out a small yelp of surprise as I stumbled face first into Itachi's chest. I could immediately tell he was fit, seeing as how it actually _hurt_ to be pushed into him. I groaned quietly, bringing a hand up to rub my nose- which felt squished- for a moment. What was up with Tobi and his dragging and pushing me?

I heard a low grunt and I instantly froze, a blush creeping up my neck as I looked up at Itachi. He was currently looking down at me, his eyes still narrowed.

"I- I..." I stuttered out, but he simply wrapped one of his hands around my upper arm and pulled me into his room, closing the door with his other hand and locking it. I bit my lip, hoping he didn't have much purpose behind locking it. When he released me and walked over towards his bed, I let out a small sigh of relief.

But then the unsettled feeling came back when I realized I'd have to move eventually. Strange thing to feel unsettled about when you're currently held hostage, huh? I've always been a little self-conscious about everything I did around people though...

Itachi was currently laying on his bed, reading a book. His bed was simple. A twin sized mattress with dark blue pillow slips and a sea green and dark blue comforter. I guess he probably liked the ocean. I scanned the room, searching for a chair or something I could sit down on.

A smile crossed my lips when I saw one of those bench window seats that are perfect for book reading. For a moment, I wondered why Itachi didn't sit there to read his book. But then I realized he was too tall. He couldn't comfortably bring his knees up too close to his upper body on the bench seat... But I could!

I was very happy to see the free seat. The curtains covering the window were heavy, and seemed to be stapled to the wall, not releasing any evidence on whether it was night or day. I didn't feel comfortable enough to ask Itachi what time of the day it was either, so...

As soon as I moved, Itachi looked up at me. I bit my lip harder, slowly walking towards the bench seat. Itachi looked back down at his book when he saw that all I did was sit down. I was somewhat too short for it's height, as my feet didn't touch the ground, though the tip of my shoes brushed it. I stared down at the ground, focusing on the continuous pattern of the maroon tiles.

I knew ten minutes had already passed since I had begun staring, but I didn't look up from the floor. It was very uncomfortable to recognize the fact that an older, but young, man was a little over 5 feet away from me.

It appeared he took notice of my tense posture. From the corner of my eye I saw he let out the faintest of sighs before bookmarking his page and pushing himself up off his bed. I lifted my head a little so that I could follow his feet, and when he stopped at a bookshelf, I lifted my head more.

He was blocking my view as to what book he had grabbed, but I heard him open one. After a few moments, I heard the soft tap that books make when you close them, and he turned to look at me. Immediately, I lowered my head back down. It was unsettling to be around all that I had spent more than a minute with so far.

When his feet came back into my line of sight, I sucked in a shaky breath. A small squeak emitted from me when a book landed on my lap.

I blinked, looking up at Itachi curiously, who simply raised a brow before going back to his bed. I watched as he opened his book back up and his eyes began moving slowly as he read. I realized his eyes were a black color now... Onyx.

My eyes widened slightly as I remembered my dream. I wasn't one to believe that dreams told you your future, but this was weird! And how did his eyes change colors? In my moment of disbelief, I actually asked him.

"How did your eyes change color?" I heard myself ask, but the moment that sentence was over I brought a hand up to cover my mouth. When he looked over at me with the same expression he seemed to always have, I quickly looked down to read the cover of the book he had given me.

'How To Properly Wield a Katana' This guy... When I shyly looked back over towards Itachi, he was still watching me. For a minute, we simply stared at each other. I grew comfortably enough to observe his entire face and not just his eyes. He had deep frown lines, and a strong jawline. He didn't have much of a cold expression, it was more of a relaxed one. His lips weren't thin, but they weren't full either. He had cupid's bow lips. Seemingly perfect lips. I couldn't help but blush and inwardly scold myself when I realized I was checking out one of my captives.

"The reason for the change of my eye color is that I inherited my family's Kekkai Genkai." Itachi spoke smoothly, seemingly observing me as well. His voice was one of those perfect ones you hear on those audio books. The ones that could read you a book like no tomorrow. It's too bad he's a criminal. He could've gotten into the audio book business.

Audio book voice or not though, he confused me. I tilted my head slightly in confusion, my eyebrows furrowing.

"Kekkai... Genkai?" I repeated slowly. He raised his brow again before nodding.

"Do you not know what Kekkai Genkai are?" I did a half shrug before shaking my head.

"No..." I mumbled softly, letting him know that the conversation was brought to an end as I opened the book, flipping through the pages until the first chapter showed up.

"Interesting..." I heard him say, but it appears he followed my lead and began reading again, as I could hear a page being flipped moments later.

I smiled a little. Maybe if the rest of my captives had at least a little bit of a gentleman side to them like Itachi did, I could be content with my situation.


	4. Chapter 4

I've realized I haven't done any disclaimers, and decided to do so.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto! I do however own the character I've named Cora. No steal-y, please.  
Yeah. That's about it. Onwards!

* * *

~Cora's P.O.V.~

I let out a small groan as I arched my back and pushed my hands against the small of it, not relaxing until I heard the familiar pop sound. I had just finished the long and detailed book on wielding a Katana. It was my bad that I popped my back though.

"Ow!" I yelped, curling up slightly on the bench seat, my arms wrapping around my stomach. Itachi looked up at me, alarmed. I whimpered quietly, slowly unwrapping my arms and unzipping my hoodie. It was a nasty sight. My white shirt was soaked with blood.

"How did you get that?" Itachi asked, walking briskly towards the bathroom for what I assumed was a First Aid kit. I cringed slightly while pinching an area of the shirt that wasn't bloody and pulling the wet cloth away from me, feeling how cold the blood had gotten now that my hoodie wasn't containing my body heat.

"Um... Someone threw a knife or something at me before I got knocked out... I woke up and I was here, in a cell." I murmered bitterly, but somehow Itachi had heard me. A small frown was on his face as he stood beside me, bandages in one hand and a bottle of liquid in the other.

"I need you to lift your shirt up." I blinked once.

Then twice.

Three times for good measure, and then I slowly looked at him.

"Come again?"

"Lift your shirt. I need to wrap your wound." I blushed, feeling dumb. I deemed him unlikely to be the kind of guy who would do anything... unprofessional. So hesitantly, I tugged my shirt up halfway. His frown deepened. I noted that his eyes didn't wander.

"It might hurt as I take the old bandages off." I bit my lip and clenched the bench seat cushion with my free hand. The other keeping the shirt up.

"Go for it..."

And then some pain. I hate pain. It's not a nice feeling. I despise pain. Especially the pain that came when he decided not to warn me as he poured the liquid he had onto my wound.

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow..." I jumped, then slowly relaxed back until I was leaning against the covered window. This gave Itachi more room to clean my wound. He looked a little amused, and I growled quietly at him for that. He didn't think I growled because of him, he thought I growled because of the pain. I could just tell by the look in his eyes.

"Is it over yet...?" I asked, five or so minutes later. He had wrapped then new bandages securely around my stomach and waist. He wordlessly walked over to his maroon dresser before throwing a copy of the robe I saw Tobi wearing earlier at me and motioning towards the bathroom.

"Gotcha..." I mumbled, nodding my thanks as I took the robe and entered the bathroom. Once I securely locked said bathroom's door, I slowly tugged out of my shirt, being careful not to get any blood on my hair and face, and then I tugged out of my shorts. For a moment, it crossed my mind that I would need more, and preferably washed, underclothes fairly soon. But I shrugged it off. The time would come when I gathered up the nerve to ask someone, but not now. Definitely not now. I debated on getting a quick shower, but then I remembered that Itachi had just put new bandages on me. I could take one tomorrow. If they let me, anyways...

The robe was way too big on me. But it was very warm. I turned to the sink and decided to wash my face real quick before I went back into his bedroom. A minute later, I was awkwardly standing at the foot of his bed, shifting my weight from one leg to the other slowly. He looked me over quickly before nodding once and sliding his bed covers down.

"You will sleep on that side of the bed while I sleep on the other. Do you understand?" He said, a frown on his face. He looked angry. I nodded hastily, trying not to make him impatient, nor further angered.

"I, um... Yes, sir." He nodded once, pleased with my answer. For a moment I debated on whether or not I should just sleep on the floor, but shrugged it off. I was tired, dammit. I would let myself freak out over being captured tomorrow. Stressful day has been very stressful.

I slid into my side of the bed and brought the covers up over myself, smiling a little when I realized it was much warmer under them. It was only when Itachi slipped in beside me that I tensed. His twin sized bed was small now that we were both on it. Sure, he made it warmer, but... Too small...

My left side was completely pressed against his right side. I swiftly rolled off the bed and onto the floor, raised myself up from my hands and tip toes position, then backed away slowly. He quirked a brow.

"You... Said that I had to sleep on only one side." I tried to reason, but his light sigh immediately quieted me.

"Lay down, girl."

Biting my lip, I slowly slipped back into my side of the bed. I got the feeling it was better if I stayed on his good side rather than make him irritable. Itachi turned to switch his lamp off and darkness became known. I turned to lay on my right side and hoped that sleep would come to me without much wait, and surprisingly soon, it did.

* * *

_**(New Dream Scene, Somewhat important.)**_

Flashes of red and black that seemed to clash exceptionally. That's what I saw. It just kept going at a constant slow rate. Red flash, red flash, red flash, red flash, black flash. Then everything was black for a few moments before it happened again. It started getting faster and faster with each cluster of flashes. It wasn't exactly pleasant, but I kept relatively calm. It felt like hours had passed before it morphed into a scene. A lot of scenes. Each flash was replaced with images of a struggle between two people while someone was watching not too far away.

That went on replay for what seemed like another hour, yet somehow I never got bored of it. The images suddenly lightened up and instead of images, it was replaced with clips. Like those gifs you see on the internet, only more so as if you were watching with your own eyes.

I realized who the people were. I was the one in the struggle against a man, and holding up fairly so far. My mother was the one watching, not a look of panic on her face. The scene went black when the repetitive flash came along. Then it picked up where the man could be seen shoving me to the ground, taking a stab at my stomach, and grabbing my mother by her hair. It went black again.

It picked back up where the man waited right until my dream-self looked up to yank my mother's head back and drag the same knife he used to stab me slowly yet forcefully across her throat.

* * *

I shot up in the bed with a yell, panic-struck and flailing around when I found my legs trapped. Hands pressed down on my shoulders and I screamed, bringing my knee up to hit what it could, but it was pushed down by someone's leg before it could get enough momentum to do any damage. I struggled to get out from underneath the obvious male above me, but froze when a low growl emitted from his throat.

"Calm yourself." I heard him tell me, and I bit my tongue, refusing to let the whimper that was rising to come out. Instead I took his advice and took deep breaths, and almost immediately my mind cleared and I remembered what happened the previous day.

Too ashamed to let myself cry in front of Itachi, I tried not to let the tears overflow. After a minute, he knew I had calmed and made a move to return to his side of the bed, but paused when he heard my quiet sniffle. He finished his interrupted movement and turned on his side to face me.

"Night terror?" He questioned quietly, and I felt my face heat up when he stared obviously at my teary eyes. I cleared my throat before attempting to answer.

"You could say that." I muttered out a curse when my voice cracked. His usual routine of a raised brow along with an amused look came around.

"You've been having it since you fell asleep."

"Sorry..." I mumbled, making the mistake of closing my eyes to try and escape the situation. The held back tears escaped and I let a harsh sigh out, bringing my hands up to scrub them furiously off my face. A moment of weakness wasn't ideal in my current situation.

"I don't understand why you're apologizing." That made me blink.

"Um..."

"It's still early. Go back to bed." I froze, staring at him. He stared back.

"But..."

He seemed to understand my fear and nodded once after studying me with narrowed eyes. He slipped further into the bed and pulled the covers up until they rested comfortably over our chests. There was an incredibly uncomfortable silence for the next few minutes. I occasionally glanced over at him every time I saw him look at me from the corner of my eye. And each time he would give me a look that said, "Why are you looking at me?" and I would keep from rolling my eyes before looking away again. It's something I'd always done. Stared at people when I saw them glance at me, and they'd act like they didn't.

When Itachi let out another barely audible sigh, I kept my own down. He seemed to get annoyed easily. Wordlessly, I rolled onto my side to try and get some sleep. It didn't come so quick this time.  
Though eventually, I did fall asleep.

* * *

When I woke, Itachi's side of the bed was made up neatly and I had surprisingly rolled onto my other side. I had no more nightmares last night, which was a bonus. I heard the shower running, so I assumed Itachi had gone to take a shower. What should I do until he gets out...? Shrugging, I sat up on the bed and leaned back against the bed frame. I hummed to a tune I made up on the spot. It wasn't long before I got bored doing that. Slowly, still humming, I stretched my body, making sure to remember not to pop my back, as it would probably open my wound again.

Now that I was calm, I decided to review my dream. It was either coincidental- the choice I opted for most- that I was stabbed both in my dream and in reality, or it was prophecy. Prophecy...? Doubted. Coincidence it is. I had read somewhere that dreams are simply the day's memories and thoughts taken into account; picked and chosen from the brain to be stored into long-term memory. Being stabbed in the stomach would definitely be remembered.

You just don't get stabbed in the stomach every day.

My thoughts were interrupted by one Itachi Uchiha, who had just come out from the bathroom. His hair was down, I'm guessing because he didn't want to damage his hair by pulling it up while it was still wet, and dripping.

I don't know about Itachi, but I know I can't stand it when my hair drips. Especially if I spend 5 minutes using a towel to dry it, and the dropping comes back moments later. It's aggravating.

* * *

I wanted to go ahead and post this up real quick because I know it's been pretty much a month since I updated. :( I apologize. And I noticed someone reviewed my story. :) Thank you very much, Megz0r. It made me very happy when I saw the notification email saying you reviewed!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long. Holiday stuff, family drama, the works. My brother's computer is currently the only working computer in the house, so it's kinda hard. Here's chapter five. Enjoy!

* * *

Itachi unwrapped my bandages for me and gave me clean clothes to change into. I asked if I was able to take a shower, and he nodded.

"When you get out, let me re-wrap your wound." He ordered, and then I was finally in the safety of his bathroom, getting the water to a temperature of my preference. When I got into the water my wound stung, but I could relax after the pain went away. All the caked on blood washed down the drain and I could practically feel all the sweat and grime being rinsed off of me. I couldn't help but feel a hint of happiness. I'm finally clean!

I debated on whether or not I should use any of the shampoo, but after sliding my hand over my hair I decided it was needed. It was a form of getting revenge, I thought to myself. Stealing their shower supplies until I felt I'd done something even just the slightest bit significant against them.

Around 10 minutes later, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself snugly. My hair dripped annoyingly, so I checked the cabinet under the sink for more. I found one that was the perfect size.

After wrapping the other towel around my hair, I patted my body dry. Once done with that, I ruffled my hair using the towel until I knew it wouldn't drip for awhile.

I got dressed in the baggy black shirt and baggy cargo pants that Itachi gave me. Thankfully, he added a belt to the pile. Also, a robe that was pretty much the same one as before, except without the red clouds, was in the pile. It was quite cold...

I walked out of the bathroom with the cloak on.

Itachi wasn't in the room, which made me a little confused. Why leave the captive by themselves? But then I remembered; there was at least 6 other members of the gang outside this room. Somewhere.

I sighed in frustration, walking over to Itachi's bookshelf and skimming each shelf for a book that might distract me from the mess I was in.

"History of the Uchiha Clan". Wasn't Itachi's last name Uchiha...? I slid the book out of it's place and walked over to the bench seat by the window. After carefully climbing on top of it, I leaned my back against the wall and opened the book...

* * *

I was awakened by a sharp pain in my shoulder. I jumped a little, hazily looking at my shoulder. The cloak looked damp... Blood? I looked up at the person with narrowed eyes, annoyed that my nap was disturbed _and _that they would dare to hurt me. But the second I saw that the person wasn't Itachi or Tobi, or heck, their leader, I backed as far away as I could, which left me pressed against the covered window. Fear crawled up my spine. Who was he? I turned my fear into anger...

"What do you want?" I hissed, glaring up at the guy. His eyes were a startling dark aqua color. He was very tall, and had both a mask and a hood on. Upon further and much more alert inspection, I saw that where there was supposed to be white in his eyes, there was red instead.

"You'll think twice before you speak to me like that again, girl."

I froze, terror-struck at how much killing intent I could see in him. He seemed to noticed this, as he started chuckling lowly. Slowly, his right arm raised.

Please, don't hit me... I clenched my eyes shut; waiting for the inevitable blow.

But after a few moments, nothing happened. I opened my eyes slowly and saw a hand wrapped around Kakazu's wrist. Who stopped him?

"Perhaps it is you who will think twice before doing something, Kakazu-San." Itachi said in a monotone voice, his eyes were a red color again. I realized I was holding my breath, the air was so thick with tension. How could I let myself get even the slightest bit comfortable in this hell-hole...?

"Leader-Sama said she was not to be touched." Kakazu glared, wrenching his wrist from Itachi's grasp.

"We will see about that. It wont be long before Leader-Sama could care less about her..." Kakazu began, cockiness in his voice. "She would make for a fairly priced saburuko geisha."

At that, I blinked, my head tilted slightly in confusion.

"A... sa-burr-ko gae-ship?" I asked, staring at Kakazu. Itachi and Kakazu both stared at me incredulously. I felt extremely misplaced for a few moments, before Itachi explained.

...

I glared at Kakazu, who simply laughed his way out of the room. "Or maybe not. Worthless, stupid girl." Kakazu's last words before he shut the door made me growl lowly. How was I supposed to know what a... Saburuko geisha was? Itachi soon enough brought my attention back to him.

"Your shoulder is bleeding. I will wrap it along with your stomach." He said, seemingly ordering again. I made the horrible mistake of taking my frustrations out on Itachi.

"No, thank you. I can take care of my own injuries." I snapped at him, sliding off the bench seat and pacing from one end of the room to the other. I was tired of being here. I wanted to go home.

It was at most a minute of silence before the rage bubbled over again.

"Be honest, who do you guys think you are? Stabbing me? Cutting me? Oh, wait. _Right._ You're part of a _gang._" I said sarcastically, venom practically dripping from my voice.

"I do not appreciate the humiliation, nor being attacked. And the lack of freedom! What day is it? What time is it? Morning or afternoon?" I couldn't help but throw my hands up into the air in exasperation. Though, during my rant I never noticed Itachi's glare growing darker.

Finally, I turned and poked Itachi's chest hard with each word. "I. Want. To. Go. Home." I had crossed the line way too far. It was too late to fix any of it.

"Shut up, girl." He said, grabbing my injured shoulder in a strong grip. I cried out in pain, flinching away from him. His hold tightened. A whimper escaped me. The sudden realization that I shouldn't have ever let myself think that he might be the most sane person here hit me hard. He looked like he was going to hurt me more than Kakazu ever could have.

Itachi grabbed my throat with his free hand, sliding it up so that it was wrapped around just below my chin. He only applied enough pressure to make me panic, not choke. He forced me to look up at him. I trembled under his gaze, staring into his cold, red eyes with my own widened ones.

"You _will_ be quiet." Itachi spoke, his voice low. A smirk slowly grew on his lips. My world became black...

* * *

And red. I was not in Itachi's room anymore. I looked up and the sky was red, as was the moon. Then I looked down at the ground. It was black.

Suddenly, I found myself tied to a post. It happened so quick, within the blink of an eye. It wasn't rope, it was a wire that cut painfully into my skin. Blood seeped down my arms, the wire tinted with a glistening red.

Everywhere, there was an echo of screams and begging. Begging to be spared, to live. For someone else to live. The most disturbing sound out of any of those was that of a male sobbing and muttering incoherent things to himself. As if he'd gone...

"Insane." I heard Itachi murmur, my head snapped up to meet his gaze. Itachi looked... remorseful for the smallest moment, thought it didn't last. His eyes took back it's usual lifeless look.

"What..." I paused, attempting to get a hold of myself before continuing. "Where are we? How did you get us both here so fast?" I asked, my voice wavering and thick with emotion.

The same smirk he had before appeared on his lips again.

"We are in a world I control." I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. _A world he controls? Nonsense. _

"That's impossible."

My only reply was a grunt. How is this happening?

Everything went pitch black. I sucked in a deep breath of air at the surprise. I wasn't one to be afraid of the dark, but knowing he was there, somewhere... He could hurt me. He could do anything he wanted to me. A shiver crawled it's way up my spine, and I was so horribly scared.

That was unsettling, and only caused my fear to grow further. All I could hear was my quick and panicked breathing. I kept blinking, trying to see something- anything, besides the black.

I screamed in pain when a familiar burning sensation took it's place in my stomach, except in multiple areas. I looked down, but it was still pitch black. I couldn't see what happened.

"I thought your leader said I was not to be touched!" I yelled, slumping against the post. The wires cut deeper.

"Starting now, I will stab you with a katana for 72 hours." Itachi's voice echoed around me. I had no time to react to his words before I was stabbed again, this time between my left shoulder and collarbone. I bit my lip hard, to the point I soon tasted blood. Could I get through this...?

* * *

When it was all over, I found myself back in Itachi's room. A gasp escaped me, and I immediately collapsed, only being held up by Itachi's hands. This was a problem, as I began choking from his grip around my throat.

He effortlessly dragged me over to the bed before pushing me down into a sitting position on it. Once he knew I was steady, he got out some bandages and lifted my shirt.

But I was more than traumatized by my experience in Itachi's world, and found my vision brightening with white pixels. When all I could see was white, it was like turning off a lamp. Everything went black, and I was out cold...

* * *

A/N: Short, yet again, I know. I'll try to type larger chapters. But I felt it was unfair to be taking so long to update. So...


	6. Chapter 6

Everything became bright again. It was almost blinding, except I couldn't shut my eyes and escape it. It was like having binoculars glued to your face, positioned to stare up into the sun. But you couldn't move, you couldn't bring your hands up to tear it off your face. Even if you could, you would tear your skin and very likely bleed quite a bit.

My eyes teared up, throbbing in rhythm with an ache that was beginning to make it's appearance in my lungs. My breath soon came out as wheezes, and I trembled with each inhale. It was painful. For a reason I don't know, the next breath I drew in was one full of...

The water invaded my lungs mercilessly.

* * *

I shot up into a sitting position, gasping and shivering in a cold sweat. Once I realized it was a dream, my panic slowly receded. I leaned back against the frame of the bed and caught my breath. When I knew I was completely calm, I observed my surroundings.

The lights were off, but there was a sliver of light coming from under Itachi's door, basking the room in the faintest glow. There was a repetitive 'click' noise, which came from a clock.

Once again, I found a warmth pressed up against my left side. With a frown, I glanced over at Itachi, who was sleeping on his back. His eyes were flickering slowly beneath his eyelids. Clearly he was having a dream. I couldn't help but glare at him, hating him for what he did to me.

_But how did he do it? _An inner voice asked me, which made me pause. That's true! How _did _he do it? How could that even happen?

It couldn't happen at all, is what I heard myself thinking. There was no way he could literally get inside my mind, hear everything I thought. But the pain was so real...

But it didn't happen.

That is what clicked in my head. If there was no possible way for him to do it, that means it didn't happen. Had I dreamed it all? My dreams have been freaky the past few days.

Case closed.

* * *

I might have shrugged off what happened, but that didn't mean I let myself fall asleep again. I didn't want to be subjected to another nightmare. I didn't want to wake up feeling as if I hadn't gotten any sleep. I was certain that if my mind had created something so realistic and vivid, that it would happen again.

It was probably only 30 minutes before I felt Itachi shifting around. I turned my head slightly to look at him, and... He didn't look very good. Sweat was dripping down his forehead and he was breathing heavily.

_Guess I'm not the only one who's gifted with pleasant dreams... _I thought to myself sarcastically.

After a few minutes, he shifted around more. And then a bit more... He rolled onto his side, the one facing me.

What looked like a small wince graced his face for a moment before his eyes opened slowly. A flash of confusion crossed him when he saw me before his face fell back into it's usual relaxed look.

I turned my head more so that I could see him without making my eyes feel uncomfortable. Itachi narrowed his eyes at me, looking irritated. I couldn't help but remember that I had been a bit rude to him yesterday... Even though I had every right to be.

_Wouldn't it be better to stay on his good side though? Perhaps get him to like you a little? You could escape if you got close enough. _My inner voice told me again, and that's when I made up my mind.

"Itachi..." The irritated look dropped from his face and he tilted his head slightly upward to show he was listening.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted yesterday..." I murmured, looking away from him to stare at the light coming from under his door. It was a few moments before I heard him make what sounded like a grunt.

Looking back over at him, I let out a small breath of relief when he simply nodded. I slid myself so that I was laying back down before shifting around to get comfortable. Itachi rolled onto his back again.

I still didn't sleep, but the only thing I can tell you that happened after that was staring up at the ceiling.

When morning came- or what I assumed was morning because Itachi woke again- Itachi wordlessly went to take a shower. _Way to save me from this boredom._ I thought, letting out a small breath of amusement. Halfway through that breath, I was interrupted by a loud growl.

Coming from my stomach, of course. What else could've growled? I frowned a little, placing a hand on my stomach. I hadn't eaten in... 3 and a half days.

Now that I realized how long I'd gone without eating, I started whining to myself in my head and feeling the massive need to eat. The second Itachi got out of the bathroom, I shot up into a standing position.  
He raised his eyebrows at me, making me feel stupid for a moment.

"Uh..." I began, then was reminded of the urgent need of _food _my tummy wanted by another loud growl. "I haven't eaten in a few days. Could I have some food?"

I paused and wrinkled my nose a little before adding in a 'please'. Maybe manners was my best shot? He nodded, and opened his door. But then he just stood there.

"Follow." Itachi said, and I blushed in embarrassment. Why else would he have been standing there? _Idiot_. I followed him down multiple hallways, remembering a few from when Tobi led me to his leader and then to Itachi's room. The walls were all painted gray, a few lanterns hanging from the ceiling every hundred or so feet.

I sighed quietly and looked down, finding nothing to capture my attention besides the back of Itachi's...

Sandals? Weird looking sandals. I raised my brow, moving to walk behind and to the left of Itachi to get a better look. Why sandals? I noticed Itachi abruptly stopping and was glad that I had moved, I would've slammed into him otherwise. I stood on my tiptoes to peek over Itachi's shoulder and saw a moderately average looking kitchen.

My stomach growled yet again when I saw the bowl of fruit on top of the table. Itachi stepped further into the kitchen and to the side, making my pathway clear. I looked over at him and asked a silent question.

When he nodded, I walked over to the bowl of fruit and chose the grapes. Then I headed to the sink to wash them off before popping a few in my mouth.

My stomach was very pleased a few minutes later. Itachi had started making some sort of food on the stove while I sat on a chair at the head of that table, chewing on my grapes. I stiffened a little when I heard the sound of a steady tap echoing in the halls. Someone was coming.

"Oi, Itachi-Kun! Is some of that food gonna be for me, too?" A very tall, very intimidating blue guy? I blinked and looked him over. He had what looked like gills under his eyes and... beady eyes. I couldn't tell what his eye color was from where I was sitting, they were so small. He was grinning, which let me get a good look at his shark-looking teeth.

I'd heard of people filing their teeth to look like that, but going to those lengths to look like a shark? What's the point in doing that? It seems I had spaced out thinking about this guy.

"Girl! What are you, deaf?" Someone barked.

"Why do people keep asking me if I'm deaf?" I murmured, remembering the girl from the woods. I looked up at the source of the voice, which was the blue-guy who had moved to stand beside me.

"Maybe because you keep looking off into space." He grinned, his eyes roaming over me, obviously staring at the more curvaceous parts of my body. I almost growled at him.

"My bad." I began, glaring at him. "Is there something you wanted to ask me?" I made sure to keep my voice calm and steady. I didn't want what happened with Kakazu and Itachi to happen again. _Itachi never did anything to you though._ I heard myself think. I was standing up for Itachi. _Stupid. Don't do that. _

"Is it true that a little girl like you was able to escape from Kakazu's anger?" He spoke, sitting down in a chair to my left side of the table. I nodded slowly in reply. Could he read minds? I ignored the 'little girl' comment. He was clearly old enough to call me one if he wanted to.

"It was more so Itachi reminding him of your leader's orders." I said, popping the last of my grapes into my mouth. He busted out laughing, mentioning how mad Kakazu must've gotten and sending a praise over at Itachi.

"What is your name, girly?" He said, leaning closer to me. I leaned back reflexively; I didn't like people in my personal bubble. He only grinned further, seeing my discomfort.

"Cora. And yours?"

"Kisame Hoshigaki, at your service." He leaned back on the back two legs of the chair, his arms crossed behind his head.

"If you're really at my service, mind getting me back home?" I said, a small chuckle escaping me. I knew better than to have any hope right now.

"No can do, Cora-Chan." Kisame laughed, but settled when Itachi pulled a chair out to my right and set a bowl of fried rice and a plate of... something, down in front of him as he slid into the chair.

"You both may eat." Itachi said tonelessly, using chopsticks to eat some of the unrecognizable food. I waited until Kisame got his own share of food before grabbing my own. Once I was back in my chair, I snapped my chopsticks apart and tried to pick some of the food up.

It slipped from between the sticks. I glanced up at Itachi and Kisame, who were both eating perfectly with their chopsticks. In fact, Kisame was practically shoveling all his fried rice down. So I tried once more, but it slipped again.

About 10 tries later, I growled, which made them both look at me as I failed again. I can't use simple chopsticks.

"...You don't know how to use chopsticks?" Itachi asked, quirking a brow as he set his chopsticks down on a napkin. I bit my lip, once again feeling stupid and embarrassed in his presence.

"I guess not." I said, trying to shrug it off. But at my reply, Kisame almost started choking on his rice.

"You've got to be kidding? How stupid _are _you?" Kisame said after he swallowed his food. Criminals with table manners. How dashing. I chuckled inwardly to myself, but then remembered the stupid part.

"I'm not stupid! I just... Was never taught how to use chopsticks before." I began angrily, but my voice took on a self-ashamed tone to it near the end.

"What, have you been living under a rock?" Kisame scoffed, then carried on with his eating. Itachi didn't follow his lead. He just sat with his eyes closed. I picked my chopsticks up and kept trying.

It was a few minutes before Kisame let out a groan of content, stretching as he picked his dishes up and set them in the sink. During that time, I simply stabbed my chopsticks into the bowl of fried rice and stared at it.

"I'm off, Itachi-Kun. If you feel like training, I'll be outside." Itachi grunted in reply. Not even a minute later, I felt something nudge my foot below the table.

I glanced up at Itachi, who slowly picked his chopsticks back up and turned his hand a little to show me how he held them in his hand. Then he picked a piece of rice up before setting it back down.

I looked at him, surprised. He was helping me? Itachi motioned at my chopsticks. Nodding slowly, I picked my own chopsticks up the way he showed me and tried to pick a piece of rice up. It slipped. I glanced up at him, but all he did was tilt his head slightly, clearly wanting me to try again.

So try again I did. And this time, I got it! Grinning at my achievement, I slowly and successfully began eating the food, steadily increasing my speed until it felt natural. Somewhere during the time that I began eating, Itachi had, too.

When I finished the last of my fried rice, I paused to look at Itachi.

"I... guess I should thank you. For the food and the chopsticks lesson." I said quietly, causing him to turn his gaze towards me. Itachi stared at me for a few moments, then stood up from his chair.

"Forget about it." He said, picking up our dishes and walking over to the sink to rinse them out before setting them down.

"Let's go." I blinked, then stood up from my chair and followed Itachi out of the kitchen and down two hallways. He opened up a door and we entered what could be called a living room. He chose a spot on the far-end of a brown couch and began reading the same book as the other day. I chose a recliner beside the couch.

The exhaustion of staying up all night finally settled in me and I curled up, laying my head on the arm of the recliner. I fought sleep for a few more minutes, but soon my eyelids grew too heavy to keep open. I never had dreams when I napped during the day. So maybe...

* * *

I had my elbows propped up against the railing of a fishing deck, staring out at what seemed to be a huge river. The waves were pushing their way up, forming into a continuous pattern as they fought to get to the river bank before they died out. A gentle breeze caressed my skin as it slunk past me, sending a shiver down my spine that chilled me down to bone. I smiled, climbing up onto the railing to sit on it, facing the waves.

It felt more like I was on a boat rather than a fishing deck, an illusion that was cast by the waves. It seemed to be very early morning, as there was a mist floating above the waves and around the river. Frogs were croaking, crickets were chirping, and birds were singing softly to their tunes knowingly. Each breath I drew in filled me with a soothing, cool calm that was unexplainable.

I closed my eyes, savoring the peaceful feeling inside me.

But then I felt a sharp shove on my back, someone had pushed me into the water; the waves forced themselves up and over me the second I hit water. I drew in a gasp, my lungs filling with water.

* * *

I groaned, sitting up from my laid down position to rub the top of my head where a bump was forming.

"That'll teach ya to steal my chair, hm?" I heard a new voice say, and the sound of someone plopping down into the recliner.

"What the..." I slowly opened my eyes which were clenched in pain. My vision was filled with a guy with long blonde hair, a ponytail up near the front that made his left eye hidden under his hair. The eye I could see was a startling blue, the eyeliner outlining his eye was making them look even more alluring than they had before. I snapped back into concentration.

"It's a recliner." I murmured softly, staring up at him. He chuckled, grabbing the television remote and flipping through the channels.

"I apologize, milady." He began, settling on a channel on explosions. "_Recliner_, yeah." He repeated quietly, seeming to like the word.

I blinked in confusion, then looked around to see if Itachi was still on the couch. Which he was not. I panicked inwardly for a moment, but let it pass quickly. _Itachi certainly can't babysit me all the time, now can he? _

"If you're looking for _Uchiha_" He practically hissed his name. "He went outside to train with Hoshigaki-San." At that I nodded slowly, remembering when Kisame had told him he'd be outside.

"What do you guys mean when you say train? What are you training for?" He blinked, then looked down to stare at me.

"We don't want our skills to get rusty." He said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I paused to think about it.

_Gang members... Training... Skills... Oh._ I realized that he was probably talking about gun and knife skills. Interesting...  
Yeah. Freaking me out a little here.

"What's your name, little one?" I tilted my head slightly at the nickname, but shrugged it off.

"Cora."

"I'm Deidara, un!" Deidara exclaimed, offering his hand down towards me. I did a small half-smile. He seemed excited. I was just about to take his hand and shake it when a door slammed open.

"You always go too rough on me, Itachi-Kun!" Kisame almost whined. There was a large gash across his entire left forearm. And trust me, his forearm is huge. Itachi simply grunted in reply, heading back over to his spot on the couch. Deidara glared at Itachi, pulling his hand back up to rest on his leg. How in the hell could Kisame stand that gash?

"Oh. I see you met sleeping beauty over there, Deidara." Kisame grinned, looking from Deidara to me. Sleeping beauty? I guess he saw me asleep.

"That I did." Deidara replied, unamused. I raised a brow. What just happened?

"And how do you like girly?"

"Cora seems nice so far." He was the first person to call me by my name and not my gender so far.

"You put your hands on her yet?" Kisame winked, then barked with laughter. Deidara rolled his eyes, then looked down at me.

"Mind that handshake?" Kisame laughed harder. Some sort of joke, maybe?

"Um... What, do you bite?" Itachi smirked. What's going on?

"No. But perhaps something else, yeah." Deidara replied, chuckling quietly. I weighed the pros and cons, but realized they might've been screwing with my head in that moment. I offered my hand. The second Deidara took my hand and shook it a few times, I felt something... lick my hand?

I quickly yanked his hand towards me and turned it palm-up. My brain seemed to stop working.

"You... have... a..." I heard Kisame just about die with laughter, he was now coughing his lungs up before continuing to laugh. _Work, brain. You can do this. Just form a couple of words._

"You have a mouth on your hand, Deidara..." I muttered, watching as the mouth on his hand seemed to grin up at me.

"Yep." Clearly this was nothing new for him. But it was so...

"How?" I asked, hesitantly poking at it. That's when he took his hand back. He shrugged.

"Kekkei Genkai." ...what?

"Like Itachi's?"

"Nothing like Itachi's." Deidara replied, seeming to be a little annoyed. I nodded slowly.

"Were you guys government experiments or something?" Kisame calmed down enough to answer that one for Itachi and Deidara.

"No, girl. They were not. It's in their genes." Kisame said, sending me a toothy smile.

"Strange..." I murmured, looking from Deidara to Itachi.

"You could say that." Itachi finally spoke, obviously amused by my reaction.

* * *

**A/N: **My longest chapter so far. :) Music certainly boosted my energy and pretty much forced ideas into my brain, so I wrote. Hope you guys liked it~


	7. Chapter 7

I shrugged slowly, thinking about it. They're not government experiments, yet they have blood red eyes and mouths on their hands? I paused.

"Does that mean Kisame naturally looks like a shark?" Deidara grinned, Kisame frowned.

"Yes." Itachi said, answering for Deidara and Kisame who were being quiet.

"I thought he was just dressing up..." I said quietly, surprise etched on my face. Deidara snorted.

"Dressing up? Who would go through that much trouble just to dress up as a shark?" My response was a small shrug.

"Fans of anime and cartoons dress up as characters all the time!" Kisame almost pouted, he looked a little self-conscious. Suddenly, it felt like my mind had a jigsaw puzzle moment. I felt a nagging in my head that told me there was something all too familiar about this criminal organization, something to do with anime...

_You're just being stupid, Cora. Shut up._

I shrugged it off, listening to my inner voice. Turns out while I was listening to my inner voice, I missed a lot of conversation.

"Oi, girly! Itachi'll bring you a world of pain if you don't hurry up." Confusion flooded my mind. I looked around for Itachi. He was at the doorway, waiting. I pushed myself up off the floor to stand before walking over to him. I turned slightly and waved at Deidara and Kisame.

"Nice meeting you. I guess." I muttered, not really speaking truthfully. They seemed to notice my lack of enthusiasm and smirked at each other in silent conversation. A spark of annoyance rose in me, but I fought it down. No sense in losing my calm again.

I followed Itachi back to his room and took my place on the bench seat. Itachi set a few books from his bookshelf down beside me.

"You can read those when you wish to." He said, then walked into his bathroom and closed the door. A minute later, I heard the shower come on.

_Another shower? _I questioned, eyebrows raised in surprise. _Well... He did just train with Kisame. _Shrugging it off, I looked through the books Itachi set down.

'_The Basics of Chakra Control', 'The Ranks of Ninja and How To Become One', 'D-Rank Jutsu' _and '_Taijutsu_'.

...Huh. Chakra control? Ninja? _Jutsu? _Itachi was turning out to be a very... strange, person. I settled on the Taijutsu book. It showed illustrations of offense and defense positions, breathing exercises, attacks, and counter-attacks. It looked... fascinating. I'd always wanted to do some sort of martial arts, but my mom always said no.

'_It's too violent for you, kiddo.' _I heard her voice in my head.

Shyly, I listened to see if the shower was still on. Once I knew I wouldn't get caught, I set the book up where I could clearly see it before standing. I copied one of the defense positions. My left arm was outstretched, fingers pressed together in a manner that could help me either catch a kick or push a punch to the side, which would help raise my chances of winning in a match. If I used the technique properly, anyways.

My right hand was held up in a fist, about a foot diagonal with my head. My hips faced the side, legs spread out a little so that I could push myself either forward or back. My body was pretty much lined up.

Glancing at the book, I tried out one of the attacks. I leaned back so that most of my weight was on my right leg before pushing myself forward, using the momentum in my right arm to attack the air with a punch.

I frowned a little when I almost fell flat on my face. I caught myself in time though, and moved back into the defense position that I was in before. Just as I was about to go for the same attack as before, I felt a warm radiating from behind me, a few cold droplets soaking through my shirt. I tensed, turning my head to look at Itachi.

"You're doing it wrong. You need to relax your hips and shoulders." He spoke, pushing my shoulders down, bending my left elbow slightly, and then motioning at my hips.

_At least he's leaving that part to me. _I thought to myself sarcastically. I blinked when he moved in front of me and... Looked like he got into an attack position.

"What..." I paused to lick my lips, my mouth suddenly felt dry. "What are you doing?" His eyes narrowed slightly.

"If you wish to learn, it would be wise to get experience in." My eyes widened.

"No! You-" I was cut off.

"Block my attack." And then he moved fast, bringing his leg up, sending what I assumed was a kick at my face. My reflexes, coincidentally, also kicked in and I grabbed his leg by the ankle. Immediately after, I dropped it and stumbled backwards, clutching my hand to my chest and hissing out colorful words. My hand was throbbing in pain and swelling quickly.  
He gave me no more time to recover.

"Focus!" He shouted, bringing his fist back before moving it forward, his body turning to push more force into it. I ducked as quick as I could, feeling his hand brushing past my hair as I moved forward to try and get past him and away from where I was pretty much cornered.

"Too slow."

Itachi's knee came up, but he stopped it as soon as it touched my stomach. A few moments passed before I stared up at him with wide eyes, trembling from the adrenaline and fright coursing through me. He stared back impassively. He hadn't even broke a sweat, his breathing calm. He had clearly held back to the best of his ability.

"Whoa..." I murmured. Itachi slowly brought his knee back down before moving away from me.

"Have you ever done anything like this before?" He question, still staring at me. I shook my head slowly, too amazed by what had just happened to speak.

"Fair job for a beginner." He grunted, then broke the stare to walk over to his bed where a small pile of clothes was. He picked the clothes up and threw them into a laundry basket by his door.

"I, um... Thank you?" I spoke softly, my heartbeat slowly calming to it's average pulse rate. Itachi nodded once, then opened the door to his bedroom.

"You may follow me to the kitchen." He paused, something coming to his mind. "You may also bring the Taijutsu book to study it."

I nodded slowly, turning to grab the book before following behind him.

* * *

A small scream of terror escaped me when I felt something lick my neck. I dropped the book in my surprise, and it fell to the floor. Laughter erupted behind me and I turned to see Deidara holding his palms up. I glared at him, my only reply being the palms on his hands sticking their tongues out at me.

I shuddered a little, still a little disturbed by his palms. I leaned down to pick Itachi's book back up and place it on the table, deciding not to hold it in my hands anymore. I flipped through the pages to find where I was at, glancing upwards to see Itachi had turned from the stove to glare at Deidara.

Deidara clearly ignored him, plopping down into a chair beside me. I rolled my eyes, fighting down the urge to yell at him and kick him out of his chair.

_Calm, Cora... He can probably become just as dangerous as Kakazu and Itachi. _The fear of another attack fought down my urges quickly.

"So, Cora-Chan." Deidara began, looking over my shoulder to see what I was reading.

"Yes, Deidara?" I replied dryly, leaning away from him. He grinned and leaned closer.

"What is your opinion on art, yeah?" I raised a brow at him.

"It comes from the creativity of an individuals mind and varies between many things including drawing, painting, clay-modeling, music, and singing. What else is there to say of it?" He seemed to pause at my answer, not expecting it.  
Then he shrugged.

"I was just wondering if you sided with me or my Danna." Both my brows raised.

"Your 'danna'?"

"Yeah, un!" Deidara replied, leaning back in his chair.

"Shut up about your danna already, Deidara. We all know what's going on." I stiffened at the voice, slowly hunching myself and staring at my book, trying to hide. I heard Deidara growl.

"What do you mean by that, Kakazu?" All I heard was Kakazu laughing and ignoring him, walking over to the fridge to open it and pull out a bowl of what appeared to be left-overs. The second Kakazu was facing me, he visibly paused in his steps.

"Well, well. If it ain't the little geisha brat coming out of the Uchiha's bedroom." I clenched my teeth, identifying his innuendo. I reminded myself of my earlier thoughts, letting out a slow breath to calm myself.

"Kakazu." Itachi spoke only his name, and it appeared to have an affect on Kakazu.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Have fun with your new pet, Uchiha."

A few moments of an uncomfortable silence washed over the kitchen until Deidara hummed disapprovingly, drumming his fingers on the kitchen table.

"What's up with him, yeah?"

"I kind of... Made him mad yesterday." I spoke slowly, not wanting to talk about it.

"Aah." And that's the last word that was spoken, and I was happy to oblige to Itachi's wishes of going back to his room while something cooked.

* * *

**A/N: I had fun typing this up. :D Hopeyoulikedit~**


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